Newfoundland Colony

Last updated
Newfoundland
1610–1907
130 of 'Geography of the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland ... With ten maps, etc' (11208805925).jpg
Map of Newfoundland Colony (1891)
StatusColony of England (1610–1707)
Colony of Great Britain (1707–1801)
Colony of the United Kingdom (1801–1907)
Official languages English
Minority languages Newfoundland French   Newfoundland Irish
Religion
Church of England
Monarch 
 1610–1625
James I (first)
 1901–1907
Edward VII (last)
Governor 
History 
 English Colonization of Newfoundland
1610
  Dominion of Newfoundland established
1907
Currency
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Blank.png Beothuk
Dominion of Newfoundland Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Today part of

Newfoundland was an English and, later, British colony established in 1610 on the island of Newfoundland, now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first seasonal, rather than permanent. It was made a Crown colony in 1824 and a dominion in 1907. [1] Its economy collapsed during the Great Depression and on 16 February 1934, the Newfoundland legislature agreed to the creation of a six-member Commission of Government to govern the country. In 1949, the country voted to join Canada as the province of Newfoundland.

Contents

History

Indigenous people like the Beothuk (known as the Skræling in Greenlandic Norse), and Innu were the first inhabitants of Newfoundland and Labrador. During the late 15th century, European explorers like João Fernandes Lavrador, Gaspar Corte-Real, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier and others began visiting the area. From around the beginning of the 16th century, fishing vessels with English, Portuguese, French and Spanish crews started visiting on a seasonal basis. At some point during the early 16th Century, some of these fishing crews founded an informal settlement at Placentia. The Beothuk gradually became extinct as a people, as they experienced a population decline as a result of infectious diseases introduced by European colonists and the loss of their ancestral territory due to colonial settlement. [2]

From 1610 onward, English colonists established colonial settlements in Newfoundland, led by proprietary governors, as England tried to create North American footholds. John Guy was governor of the first settlement at Cuper's Cove. Other settlements were Bristol's Hope, Renews, New Cambriol, South Falkland and Avalon, which was organized as a province in 1623. The first governor given jurisdiction over all of Newfoundland was Sir David Kirke in 1638. During this period, France had also established settlements in the region, particularly to the west in what is now Quebec. It had strong trading ties to many of the indigenous peoples along the Atlantic Coast, including the Mi'kmaq and other Algonquian-speaking peoples.

The rivalry between England and France in Europe was played out in conflicts in North America, where they struggled for predominance. This was particularly true in Newfoundland, where the English colonial settlements on the eastern coasts were in close proximity to the French claims in Southern Newfoundland, which the French dubbed Plaisance. The Newfoundland colony was nearly obliterated during the Avalon Peninsula Campaign of King William's War, the North American theatre of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). In 1696, the French and allied Mi'kmaq armed forces wiped out all but a handful of English settlements on the island of Newfoundland. Over the next year, the English repopulated and rebuilt the colony. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ceded all of Newfoundland to the British Crown.

Given the Newfoundland colony's isolation from the more southern British colonies in America (and proximity to the still-loyal colony of Nova Scotia), it did not become involved in the colonial rebellion of the 1770s. After the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783 with the independence of the United States, Newfoundland Colony became part of British North America. The Crown resettled some Loyalists in Newfoundland, but most were given land in Nova Scotia and present-day Ontario. In 1809, the British Imperial government detached Labrador from Lower Canada for transfer to the Newfoundland Colony.

It became an official Crown colony in 1825, and Thomas John Cochrane, an officer of the Royal Navy, was appointed as its first governor. [3] He directed the construction of Government House, which is located between the sites of Fort William and Fort Townshend. [3] All three have been designated National Historic Sites. [4] The colony was granted a constitution in 1832, and Cochrane became its first civil governor.

The colony was granted self-governing status in 1854. Philip Francis Little was the first premier of Newfoundland between 1855 and 1858. The country rejected confederation with Canada in the period between 1864 and 1869. [5] In 1907, Newfoundland became the Dominion of Newfoundland, a dominion of the British Empire. Due to economic hardship in 1934, the Newfoundland legislature accepted rule by a Commission Government comprising six members (three from Britain and three from Newfoundland) appointed by the British government. In two national referendums, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians voted to become part of Canada in 1948. On April 1, 1949, it became the Province of Newfoundland.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newfoundland and Labrador</span> Province of Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of 405,212 km2 (156,453 sq mi) As of January 1, 2024, the population of Newfoundland and Labrador was estimated to be 541,391. The island of Newfoundland is home to around 94 per cent of the province's population, with more than half residing in the Avalon Peninsula. Labrador shares a land border with both the province of Quebec and the territory of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. The French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon lies about 20 km (12 mi) west of the Burin Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British colonization of the Americas</span>

The British colonization of the Americas is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland, and, after 1707, Great Britain. Colonization efforts began in the late 16th century with failed attempts by England to establish permanent colonies in the North. The first of the permanent English colonies in the Americas was established in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Colonies were established in North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Though most British colonies in the Americas eventually gained independence, some colonies have remained under Britain's jurisdiction as British Overseas Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Anne's War</span> North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13)

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In the United States, it is regarded as a standalone conflict under this name. Elsewhere it is usually viewed as the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession. It is also known as the Third Indian War. In France it was known as the Second Intercolonial War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British North America</span> Former British imperial territories

British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, Virginia, and more substantially with the founding of the Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beothuk</span> Historical Indigenous people of Newfoundland

The Beothuk were a group of Indigenous people of Canada who lived on the island of Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1630s in Canada</span>

Events from the 1630s in Canada.

Cuper's Cove, on the southwest shore of Conception Bay on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was an early English settlement in the New World, and the third one after Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (1583) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to endure for longer than a year. It was established in 1610 by John Guy on behalf of Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers, who had been given a charter by King James I of England to establish a colony on the island of Newfoundland. Most of the settlers left in the 1620s, but apparently a few stayed on and the site was continuously inhabited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Avalon</span>

The Province of Avalon was the area around the English settlement of Ferryland in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in the 17th century, which upon the success of the colony grew to include the land held by Sir William Vaughan and all the land that lay between Ferryland and Petty Harbour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominion of Newfoundland</span> British dominion from 1907 to 1949

Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was confirmed by the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster of 1931. It included the island of Newfoundland, and Labrador on the continental mainland. Newfoundland was one of the original dominions within the meaning of the Balfour Declaration, and accordingly enjoyed a constitutional status equivalent to the other dominions of the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador</span> Town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Placentia is a town located in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It consists of the amalgamated communities of Placentia ("Townside"), Southeast Placentia, Freshwater, Dunville and Jerseyside and also includes the Argentia Industrial Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippe Pastour de Costebelle</span> Canadian politician

Philippe Pastour de Costebelle was a French naval officer and Governor of Newfoundland and then Louisbourg. He was born in Languedoc, France and died in Louisbourg, New France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British America</span> Former British territories in North America

British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, and the successor British Empire, in the Americas from 1607 to 1783. These colonies were formally known as British America and the British West Indies immediately prior to thirteen of the colonies seceding in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and forming the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Canada (1763–1867)</span>

Starting with the 1763 Treaty of Paris, New France, of which the colony of Canada was a part, formally became a part of the British Empire. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 enlarged the colony of Canada under the name of the Province of Quebec, which with the Constitutional Act 1791 became known as the Canadas. With the Act of Union 1840, Upper and Lower Canada were joined to become the United Province of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Newfoundland and Labrador</span>

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador covers the period from habitation by Archaic peoples thousands of years ago to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Newfoundland and Labrador</span>

The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador has a unicameral legislature, the General Assembly composed of the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly, which operates on the Westminster system of government. The executive function of government is formed by the Lieutenant Governor, the premier and his or her cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newfoundland (island)</span> Island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Newfoundland is a large island within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated off the eastern coast of the North American mainland and the geographical region of Labrador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former colonies and territories in Canada</span>

A number of states and polities formerly claimed colonies and territories in Canada prior to the evolution of the current provinces and territories under the federal system. North America prior to colonization was occupied by a variety of indigenous groups consisting of band societies typical of the sparsely populated North, to loose confederacies made up of numerous hunting bands from a variety of ethnic groups, to more structured confederacies of sedentary farming villages, to stratified hereditary structures centred on a fishing economy. The colonization of Canada by Europeans began in the 10th century, when Norsemen explored and, ultimately unsuccessfully, attempted to settle areas of the northeastern fringes of North America. Early permanent European settlements in what is now Canada included the late 16th and 17th century French colonies of Acadia and Canada, the English colonies of Newfoundland (island) and Rupert's Land, the Scottish colonies of Nova Scotia and Port Royal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English overseas possessions</span> Territories ruled by Kingdom of England

The English overseas possessions comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the Kingdom of England before 1707.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qalipu First Nation</span> First nations band government in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

The Qalipu First Nation, is a Mi’kmaq band government, created by order-in-council in 2011 pursuant to the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band. After the band was approved as a First Nation, 100,000 people applied for membership and a total of 23,000 were approved.

Bristol’s Hope is an unorganized subdivision on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is in Division 1 and contains the unincorporated community of Bristol's Hope.

References

  1. "Newfoundland and Labrador". World Statesmen. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  2. Ingeborg Marshall (1996). A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 147. ISBN   0-7735-1390-6.
  3. 1 2 "Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador". Heritage.nf.ca. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  4. Government House . Canadian Register of Historic Places . Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  5. "The Debate: Confederation Rejected, 1864–1869". Newfoundland & Labrador Heritage. Retrieved 27 August 2013.